Blue Collar Hunters: Second Weekend of Work

We were fortunate enough to make a trip last weekend up to the property that Eric talked about here, to continue our work getting the area ready to hunt. The property has a network of trails from previous generations that has been neglected and is now overgrown. We spent all of our time this weekend working on opening up those trails. These trails are key in that they allow us to maneuver our way in and out of our hunting areas with little to no disruption. Not only do these trails allow for us to have easy travel, but the deer use them as well. Some of the best sign we have found is littered up and down these trails as they circle the property.

We were able to round up a group of people (6 guys and Dennis and my wife) to go and work for the day. This turned out to be a big deal, as we quickly found out that there were trails leading in places that we didn't realize trails went. In all 3 chainsaws, a weed whip, a riding lawnmower, an ATV, two metal rakes and a shovel all contributed to the success of our trip that day. After a long, 6 hours of cutting, trimming, cleaning and grooming we were able to clear all but 2 trails.

While we were cutting ,a massive need for our hunting purposes was accomplished by the ladies that came with us. They took a solid 3 hour time frame and cleared, scraped and planted the second food plot that we were hoping to get done. We again used the Evolved Harvest No-Till Easy Plot for this area. After checking the first food plots we had made and found some growth already, we are confident enough in the product to use it again. This spot is likely to grow and be the most productive as the ladies did a phenomenal job of cleaning out the area and making it prime for planting.

Dennis was able to create a mineral lick site using Hunter's Specialties® Vita-Rack® 26 Lick Site. We followed the directions on the bag which included: clearing a 3-4 foot circle and digging down 2-3 inches. Then we spread 3/4 of the product into the hole and mixed it in with the dirt. We covered the area back up and spread the remaining product over the area. A trail/game camera was placed over this area to document the use of the site and determine how this product worked for us.

Over the original food plot we planted two weeks ago, we placed the Wildgame Innovation Model IR2 Digital Game Scouting Camera that I mentioned purchasing here. We placed this camera just off of a game trail that was leading through the woods and looked to be getting some constant use. It also led directly across our main trail, right through the middle of our growing food plot! Our plan is to allow those cameras to work for a couple of weeks, and then give them a check to ensure they are working properly and we are getting the type of pictures that we are wanting.

We did take some pictures of the uncut trails that we worked over. In future posts we will update with some new pictures showing the cleared trails, and the progress of future land improvements. Our next trip will be made in a couple of weeks. This trip will start to begin the assessment of the current stands we have in the trees, and any improvements that need to be made on them for the upcoming hunting seasons.

Below are the pictures from this weekend. We had planned on getting before and after pictures, but I forgot to bring extra batteries for the camera. Lesson learned